Steve Clarke to be offered new deal to stay on as Scotland manager

The Scottish Football Association will offer Steve Clarke a new contract as reward for taking the country to a first major tournament since 1998. Clarke’s deal, worth about £500,000 a year plus qualifying incentives, ends after next year’s World Cup finals.

Scotland’s progress under Clarke, appointed in May 2019, means the 57-year-old has been linked with a return to club football after the Euros. Clarke was previously assistant manager at Aston Villa, Liverpool, West Ham, Chelsea and Newcastle. He also managed West Brom, Reading and Kilmarnock.

Ian Maxwell, the SFA’s chief executive, said of a new contract: “Absolutely, we’ll be talking about that. We want to keep him. We are absolutely delighted with the job he has done. We’ll see how far we get in the Euros and we want to qualify for the World Cup in 2022. Hopefully he’s the Scotland manager for a long time to come and we keep qualifying for tournaments.”

Maxwell replied “absolutely” when asked whether Clarke would take charge of Scotland for the World Cup campaign rather than be coaxed to a club role. Clarke has hinted at unfinished business in the Premier League. “If people are talking about that I’m delighted because when was the last time people were talking about a Scotland manager moving on in a positive sense?” Maxwell said. “He’s done fantastically well. We wanted to qualify [for the Euros] and that’s what he has done. I’m totally sure he will lead us on to Qatar and hopefully he does that off the back of getting out the group, making the last 16 or the last eight. Hopefully we get as far as we possibly can and enjoy it.